The invention relates to a foodstuff with creamy to pasty characteristics which if desired can be converted into a foamed structure, and to a method for production of such foodstuffs.
It is frequently desirable to be able to offer a product having a creamy, full-bodied and smooth structure. This type product is desirable not only in the dessert sector, but also in the field of savory to spicy creams and pastes.
To have a creamy and more or less stiff structure, corresponding foodstuff mixtures to date either include high fat contents, for example in the form of cream, or gelling agents, in particular in the form of gelatin. Up to a certain degree, a creamy, fatty mouthfeel may also be simulated in certain recipes using special quality grades of starch.
Foodstuffs having relatively high fat contents and/or gelatin, which is a product of animal origin, are, however, frequently unwanted for dietetic reasons and/or reasons relating to their rejection by certain consumer groups. Thus there is a desire for products that have a semi-liquid to stiff, spoonable and, if appropriate, spreadable or pipable consistency, and that do not contain cream or gelatin.
In the field of foodstuffs marketed as cold products or shelf products having a creamy or foamed structure, for example in the case of foamed dessert creams and similar products, numerous recipes are known which, to achieve their desired consistency (rheology), do not necessarily have to contain fat, but which do contain, as structure-forming agents, starches and other polysaccharides or hydrocolloids, for example, alginates or plant gums, or proteins such as gelatin. These products, in the case of their production by the previously customary methods by simple thorough mixing and homogenizing their constituents, if appropriate accompanied by whipping, incorporation of air or gas, and development of their stiff structure in the final packing, generally do not have a structure which can be termed “creamy” in the usual sense. Depending on the recipe, the structure is rather to be described as gel-like to rough.
Thus, there is a need for creamy or smooth foodstuffs that do not contain gelatin or high fat contents, and these are provided by the present invention.